Lenawee County jury convicts driver in fatal drunken, reckless driving case

ADRIAN — A Blissfield man is in jail awaiting sentencing after being convicted Tuesday of causing a crash in 2021 that killed a man who he called his best friend.

Lenawee County Circuit Court jurors returned their verdicts against William Michael Badger Jr. after deliberating for about two hours. The jury found Badger guilty of both operating while intoxicated causing death and reckless driving causing death in the May 30, 2021, crash on Lipp Highway south of Ottawa Lake Road that claimed the life of David Campbell, 78, of Blissfield.

Judge Anna Marie Anzalone remanded Badger, 51, to the custody of the Lenawee County Sheriff's Office ahead of his sentencing on May 3. He faces up to 15 years in prison on both counts, to be served concurrently.

Campbell was a passenger in the Lexus convertible — his wife's car — that Badger was driving that Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend. Badger had admired it as he stopped by the Campbells' home on Jipson Street so that his and the Campbells' dogs could play.

Jurors heard testimony from Karen Campbell about Badger's visit to their home and the whiskey he and David drank before leaving to buy more liquor, a couple who witnessed the crash, the Lenawee County deputy sheriff who was the first emergency responder at the crash scene who also interviewed Badger at the ProMedica Toledo Hospital emergency department, fire department personnel who treated Badger in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, trauma team members who treated Badger, laboratory staff who were working when Badger's blood was tested, Lenawee County Accident Investigation Team members, and neighbors of the Campbells who described an interaction with Badger that day in which he seemed to be intoxicated.

The Campbell family was very happy with the verdict, one of Dave and Karen's sons said.

"This case had been haunting over our grief since the tragedy happened," Kelly Campbell said in an email sent while waiting for a flight home to California. "…The prosecution, judge, jury and law enforcement all did wonderful in doing their jobs."

"It's so tragic that it happened," Lenawee County Assistant Prosecutor Douglas Hartung said. "Happy for the victim and the victim's family, and a sad moment for the Badger family."

Hartung and Badger's attorney, Patrick O'Keefe of Lansing, both complimented the jurors on their attentiveness throughout the four-day trial that began Feb. 13. There were no proceedings in the trial on Feb. 14, and the courts were closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.

Kelly Campbell said the family was surprised that Badger rejected a plea agreement where he would have served one year in jail if he pleaded guilty to one of the charges.

"He would have been out by now had he chosen that path. Now he’s facing 15 years in prison," Kelly wrote. "Even then the judge thought that was a gift from us, so this verdict was well welcomed, especially since the plea bargain felt so generous from us and that the decline of that felt like he was trying to escape any and all accountability."

O'Keefe said Badger believed the prosecution couldn't meet the burden of proof. He called no witnesses, and Badger did not testify.

"We thought there were problems with the blood draw and the blood tests and everything. We felt we had a fighting chance," O'Keefe said outside the courtroom. "Unfortunately, the jury didn't see it that way."

"Obviously, my client is disappointed," O'Keefe said. "As I said in my (opening and closing) statements, it's an unspeakable tragedy. The poor guy didn't deserve to die. My heart goes out to his widow and their family."

O'Keefe's closing statement to the jury focused on the operating while intoxicated charge and the blood test. After the verdict, he said in his more than 20 years of trying drunken-driving cases this was the first that relied solely on a hospital blood test.

As Badger laid in a hospital bed in the Toledo Hospital emergency department the evening of the crash, he declined a request from Deputy William Warner to have blood drawn for the investigation. The sheriff's office instead worked with the Lucas County, Ohio, Prosecutor's Office to subpoena the hospital records. Warner testified that he was not familiar with whether a search warrant for a blood draw issued by a Michigan judge would be valid in Ohio, and his captain said they could request the hospital records to get Badger's blood alcohol content test result.

The hospital's test showed Badger's blood alcohol content was 0.18, or more than twice Michigan's legal limit of 0.08.

O'Keefe argued the hospital blood draw and testing was different from how blood is usually drawn for investigating drunken driving, where police in Michigan use blood collection kits issued by the Michigan State Police. While the police blood sample includes disinfectant swabs that don't contain alcohol, the hospital's swabs do contain alcohol. He said alcohol remaining on Badger's arm could have found its way into the sample tested by the hospital.

Hartung reminded the jury that witnesses testified that when blood is drawn at the hospital the first vial is discarded in order to avoid any contamination issues.

O'Keefe also criticized the prosecution for not having an expert toxicologist testify about whether the hospital's test was reliable and not having a court order the hospital to preserve the blood sample so that the state police crime lab could test it.

"We're missing critical evidence that the people should have presented to make this case easier for you," O'Keefe told the jury. "…That's the million-dollar question here, ladies and gentlemen: What was Bill's forensic blood alcohol content, not the medical blood alcohol content."

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Hartung told the jury the hospital records and testimony tracked who put the intravenous needle in Badger's arm and who drew the blood, and the hospital's quality control and maintenance practices ensured the testing machines were in good working order. The test result of 0.18 would have "to be amazingly wrong to not be over 0.08," Hartung said.

While Badger was within his rights to decline a voluntary blood draw for the sheriff's office, Hartung said it was part of a pattern Badger showed of softening his early statements taking responsibility for the crash. That included shifting some blame to David Campbell, who Badger in Warner's body-worn camera video claimed wanted to go faster in the car. Karen Campbell testified that David never showed much interest in the car and never drove it himself.

A search warrant to obtain a blood sample from Badger wasn't much of an option, Hartung said.

"The irony is that they would have had to hold him down and take his blood against his will," Hartung told the jury. "Is that what you want Deputy Warner to do?"

Regarding the reckless driving charge, O'Keefe said the evidence presented showed carelessness for driving too fast for the road conditions, but not recklessness, which the law defines as willful or wanton disregard for safety of persons or property.

As Badger talked with Warner in the hospital, O'Keefe told the jury, he felt an "overwhelming sense of guilt, shame and regret."

"He was behind the wheel, he lost control and he's responsible for Dave's death, but not because he was drunk but because he was careless and he was negligent, not because he was reckless," O'Keefe said.

"This is horribly bad driving, guys," Hartung told the jury. Badger's driving was reckless because he was not familiar with Lipp Highway, which has narrow shoulders and a big ditch on the west side, and admitted in statements to medical personnel that he was going 65 mph, Hartung continued. He went through the stop sign at Ottawa Lake Road, fishtailed on the gravel part of Lipp, then the car flipped over so it was facing the opposite direction as it went upside down into the ditch.

O'Keefe said he expects Badger will appeal the verdict.

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee County jury convicts driver in fatal crash case